Here’s something to think about: what if this disease were more deadly? Or, what if it just left lasting effects that didn’t kill quickly but just made your life miserable as long as you lived? Would we all still be sitting on our couches, still changing the channels to see what else is on TV? Could it be that this flu pandemic teaching us something that we aren’t learning? You bet it is. The thing is this, however, the lesson has already been taught to us before – on more than one occasion – but it is one we don’t want to learn. That’s because it’s about money.

It was almost 100 years ago that the Titanic set sail from its last stop at Cobh harbor in Ireland on its way to New York. It already had a reputation as being unsinkable, even though this was its maiden voyage, due to its construction, which included a number of water-tight compartments. Tragically, it turned out that the watertight compartments could not prevent it from sinking. Even more tragic was the fact that there were not enough lifeboats on the ship. Perhaps less well known is the fact that a sufficient number of lifeboats had actually been provided for the Titanic, but the ships management company, White Star Line, decided to offload almost half of the lifeboats because they felt the decks of Titanic were too cluttered. And besides, the existing regulations didn’t require all those lifeboats anyway. The result, of course, was the most famous maritime disaster of all time. The lesson was that all ships in the future had to have sufficient lifeboat capacity no matter what anyone says.

There is, however, a further lesson we can learn from both the Titanic and the swine flu – but it is one we are unlikely to learn until it is too late. The lesson is this: when we entrust our safety to profit-making corporations we have given the option to these corporations of choosing between profits and safety – and they will always choose profits. The simple fact is that safety doesn’t make money and therefore only an entity that has the safety of the people in mind, and not profit, will make the correct decisions concerning public safety. That entity is, and can only be, the government.

The simple fact is this: we don’t have enough swine flu vaccine. We will not have enough swine flu vaccine in time to help prevent that vast majority of cases. More people will get swine flu that will be protected from it by a vaccine. The reason for this is simple: we don’t have the capability to make enough a vaccine fast enough. Of course, when I say “we”, I mean the vaccine industry because there is no government vaccine production capability. So why is this? Why isn’t there enough commercial vaccine capability to produce a vaccine for everyone in time? It’s because it doesn’t make sense from a profit-making perspective. How often would these companies use this prodigious capability? No too often. How would it pay for itself? It wouldn’t. It would sit idle most of the time. The Capitalist equation works for the business owner, not the general population. It is the government (i.e. the people) that has to intervene when the for-profit system fails to provide for the safety of the people. After the Titanic disaster strict lifeboat regulations were passed – by governments, not by the ocean liner industry.

We are in the process of learning a lesson similar to the Titanic lesson again. However, it is one I believe we won’t learn well. That’s because the swine flu is not deadly enough. A lot of us will get sick and a lot of us will die – but not enough, not enough to galvanize the public into demanding action. The result will be that our government won’t create a capability that could immunize all of us at some future time when we are confronted by a truly deadly killer. And then of course, it will be too late.

One can only wonder at a government that designs and builds enough nuclear weapons to kill every man, woman, and child on the planet many times over, all in the name of defense. Yet, when it comes to defending its own people from disease, our government turns a blind eye to the possibility and its own responsibility, and leaves our lives at the tender mercies of the for-profit medical industry.

One Response

I don’t believe in conspiracy theories-and consider those that do-how about a new term: “heeneist”. But it seems strange we were told there would be plenty of vaccine and now when we need it, of course it isn’t available. Any chance Big Pharma is using this as a childish punishment: “You want to reform health care? Want a public option? Think we want profits reduced? Here’s a dose of health rationing for you!”. Just wondering. I don’t trust Republican motives and we know the 2 are intertwined.

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